External device and air conditioner having freezing function

ABSTRACT

An air conditioner having a freezing function includes an external device, an expansion valve, a condenser, a compressor, and an evaporator. The compressor, the condenser, the expansion valve, the external device, and the evaporator are sequentially connected to form a loop. The external device includes a capillary tube and a cut-off valve. The capillary tube is spirally disposed. The cut-off valve is connected in parallel to the capillary tube. A tube coupling is disposed at each of two ends of the capillary tube. The tube couplings are separately fixedly connected to a conduit extending from the expansion valve and a conduit extending from the evaporator. A spiral capillary tube is connected between an expansion valve and an evaporator in an air conditioner, so that the pressure of a liquid refrigerant is reduced when entering the capillary tube, thereby lowering the lowest refrigeration temperature to implement quick cooling.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority from Chinese Patent Application No. 2020100719797, filed on 21 Jan. 2020, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of refrigeration equipment, and in particular, to an external device and an air conditioner having a freezing function.

BACKGROUND

An existing freezer is much more expensive than an air conditioner. Occasionally food needs to be cooled quickly in daily life, which is impossible for an existing air conditioner or refrigerator.

SUMMARY

In the present disclosure, at least one of the technical problems in the prior art is intended to be solved. For this, the present disclosure provides an external device capable of freezing by means of an air conditioner.

The present disclosure further provides an air conditioner including the external device.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, in an embodiment, the external device and the air conditioner having a freezing function each includes a capillary tube and a cut-off valve, wherein the capillary tube is spirally disposed, the cut-off valve is connected in parallel to the capillary tube, and a tube coupling is disposed at each of two ends of the capillary tube.

The external device and the air conditioner having a freezing function according to the present disclosure at least have the following beneficial effects: a spiral capillary tube is connected between an expansion valve and an evaporator in the air conditioner, so that the pressure of a liquid refrigerant is reduced when entering the capillary tube, thereby lowering the lowest refrigeration temperature to implement quick cooling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the tube coupling is a copper tube coupling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the capillary tube includes an inlet section, an outlet section, and a middle section, wherein inner tube diameters of the inlet section and the outlet section are greater than an inner tube diameter of the middle section, and inner tube walls between the inlet section and the middle section and between the middle section and the outlet section have smooth transition.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the inner tube diameters of the inlet section and the outlet section are in a range of 5 mm to 7 mm, and the inner tube diameter of the middle section is in a range of 1 mm to 3 mm.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a total length of the capillary tube is in a range of 250 mm to 600 mm.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the inlet section and the outlet section are fixedly provided with the tube couplings, and the periphery of the middle section is sleeved with a heat insulating cover.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the cut-off valve includes a solenoid valve.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, in an embodiment, the air conditioner having a freezing function includes any foregoing external device, an expansion valve, a condenser, a compressor, and an evaporator, wherein the compressor, the condenser, the expansion valve, the external device, and the evaporator are sequentially connected to form a loop.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the tube couplings are separately fixedly connected to a conduit extending from the expansion valve and a conduit extending from the evaporator.

Additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will be partially provided in the following description, and will partially become apparent from the following description or understood through implementation of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent and readily comprehensible from the following description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an installed air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments of the present disclosure are described below in detail. Examples of the embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings. The same or similar numerals represent the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions throughout the specification. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary, and are only used to explain the present disclosure but should not be construed as a limitation to the present disclosure.

In the description of the present disclosure, it needs to be understood that regarding the description of orientations, orientation or location relationships indicated by “up”, “down”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, and the like are based on orientation or location relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only used to facilitate description of the present disclosure and simplify description, but are not used to indicate or imply that the apparatuses or elements must have specific orientations or are constructed and operated by using specific orientations, and therefore, cannot be understood as a limitation to the present disclosure.

In the description of the present disclosure, “several” means one or more, “a plurality of” means more than two, “greater than”, “less than”, “exceed” and the like indicate that the number itself is excluded, and “above”, “below”, “within”, and the like indicate that the number itself is included. “First” and “second” are only used to distinguish between technical features but cannot be used to indicate or imply relative importance or implicitly specify a quantity of indicated technical features or implicitly specify a sequential relationship of indicated technical features.

In the description of the present disclosure, unless otherwise expressly defined, terms such as “disposed”, “mounted”, and “connected” should be understood in a broad sense. For a person skilled in the art, specific meanings of the terms in the present disclosure should be appropriately understood according to specific content of the technical solutions.

Referring to FIG. 1, an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes an external device 100, an expansion valve 500, a condenser 400, a compressor 300, and an evaporator 200. The compressor 300, the condenser 400, the expansion valve 500, the external device 100, and the evaporator 200 are sequentially connected to form a loop. The external device 100 includes a capillary tube 110 and a cut-off valve 120. The capillary tube 110 is spirally disposed. The cut-off valve 120 is connected in parallel to the capillary tube 110. A tube coupling is disposed at each of two ends of the capillary tube 110. The tube couplings are separately fixedly connected to a conduit extending from the expansion valve 500 and a conduit extending from the evaporator 200.

During use, a conduit between the expansion valve 500 and the evaporator 200 is disassembled. The capillary tube 110 is connected between the expansion valve 500 and the evaporator 200. The capillary tube 110 is spirally disposed to extend a path for a liquid refrigerant to pass through, thereby reducing the pressure, lowering the lowest refrigeration temperature of the refrigerant entering the evaporator 200, and realizing quick freezing after the refrigerant enters the evaporator 200.

In addition, the cut-off valve 120 is added to facilitate switching between a freezing mode and a normal air conditioning mode.

When the cut-off valve 120 is opened, the refrigerant passes through a conduit at the cut-off valve 120 and reaches the evaporator 200 due to the relatively large resistance at the capillary tube 110, which uses the original function of the air conditioner.

When the cut-off valve 120 is closed, the refrigerant passes through the capillary tube 110 to enter the evaporator 200 to implement a quick freezing function.

In some embodiments, the tube coupling is a copper tube coupling, which prevents the coupling from corrosion by the refrigerant and prevents the refrigerant from leaking.

In some embodiments, the capillary tube 110 includes an inlet section, an outlet section, and a middle section, inner tube diameters of the inlet section and the outlet section are greater than an inner tube diameter of the middle section, and inner tube walls between the inlet section and the middle section and between the middle section and the outlet section have smooth transition.

Preferably, the inner tube diameters of the inlet section and the outlet section are in a range of 5 mm to 7 mm, and the inner tube diameter of the middle section is in a range of 1 mm to 3 mm. In this embodiment, preferably, the inner tube diameters of the inlet section and the outlet section are 6 mm, and the inner tube diameter of the middle section is 2 mm, to facilitate the flow of the refrigerant.

In some embodiments, a total length of the capillary tube 110 is in a range of 250 mm to 600 mm, so that the capillary tube 110 is assembled according to different temperature requirements.

In some embodiments, the inlet section and the outlet section are fixedly provided with the tube couplings, and the periphery of the middle section is sleeved with a heat insulating cover, protecting the refrigerant in the capillary tube 110 from being affected by ambient temperature.

In some embodiments, the cut-off valve 120 includes a solenoid valve to facilitate control.

Preferably, a temperature sensor is provided in some air conditioners to start or stop the compressor 300 in real time, so as to control refrigeration power. This greatly affects a fast freezing function after alternation. Therefore, in this embodiment, the original sensor in the air conditioner is replaced with a constant resistor to prevent the compressor 300 from stopping working.

During actual use, the constant resistor keeps supplying a constant signal to a control system. The control system controls the compressor 300 to keep working, that is, a fast freezing function can be continuously implemented.

The embodiments of the present disclosure are described above in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited from the foregoing embodiments. Within the knowledge of a person of ordinary skilled in the art, various changes may further be made without departing from the principle of the present disclosure. 

We claim:
 1. An external device, comprising a capillary tube and a cut-off valve, wherein the capillary tube is spirally disposed, the cut-off valve is connected in parallel to the capillary tube, and a tube coupling is disposed at each of two ends of the capillary tube.
 2. The external device according to claim 1, wherein the tube coupling is a copper tube coupling.
 3. The external device according to claim 1, wherein the capillary tube comprises an inlet section, an outlet section, and a middle section, and wherein inner tube diameters of the inlet section and the outlet section are greater than an inner tube diameter of the middle section, and inner tube walls between the inlet section and the middle section and between the middle section and the outlet section have smooth transition.
 4. The external device according to claim 3, wherein the inner tube diameters of the inlet section and the outlet section are in a range of 5 mm to 7 mm, and the inner tube diameter of the middle section is in a range of 1 mm to 3 mm.
 5. The external device according to claim 3, wherein a total length of the capillary tube is in a range of 250 mm to 600 mm.
 6. The external device according to claim 3, wherein the inlet section and the outlet section are fixedly provided with the tube couplings, and the periphery of the middle section is sleeved with a heat insulating cover.
 7. The external device according to claim 1, wherein the cut-off valve comprises a solenoid valve.
 8. An air conditioner having a freezing function, comprising an external device comprising a capillary tube and a cut-off valve, an expansion valve, a condenser, a compressor, and an evaporator, wherein the compressor, the condenser, the expansion valve, the external device, and the evaporator are sequentially connected to form a loop.
 9. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein tube couplings are separately fixedly connected to a conduit extending from the expansion valve and a conduit extending from the evaporator.
 10. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein the capillary tube is spirally disposed, the cut-off valve is connected in parallel to the capillary tube, and a tube coupling is disposed at each of two ends of the capillary tube.
 11. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein the tube coupling is a copper tube coupling.
 12. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein the capillary tube comprises an inlet section, an outlet section, and a middle section, and wherein inner tube diameters of the inlet section and the outlet section are greater than an inner tube diameter of the middle section, and inner tube walls between the inlet section and the middle section and between the middle section and the outlet section have smooth transition.
 13. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein the inner tube diameters of the inlet section and the outlet section are in a range of 5 mm to 7 mm, and the inner tube diameter of the middle section is in a range of 1 mm to 3 mm.
 14. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein a total length of the capillary tube is in a range of 250 mm to 600 mm.
 15. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein the inlet section and the outlet section are fixedly provided with the tube couplings, and the periphery of the middle section is sleeved with a heat insulating cover.
 16. The air conditioner according to claim 8, wherein the cut-off valve comprises a solenoid valve. 